Finally, it's done (that isn't why the chapter is called that). Enjoy.
A few days later, I saw a poster advertising the preliminary rounds for the F-Zero grand prix. The requirements were to have won an official race, which I had done. I knew that if I could even just get into grand prix, that I'd be set for a while down the road, and then some. I could pay for Gurt's medical bills and even get him to move again, and I wouldn't have to live in fear of someone killing me because of the publicity.
But if I won, THAT would be amazing. I wouldn't have to work for a few years and I could have a nice house in Hawaii or some new, 2205 Corvette. Those things rock. But, anyway, I couldn't win if I didn't enter, so I drove over to the track. In the new Grand Prix, each city that the courses were in had a representative who had won the preliminary rounds. Only him or her could race, and it was considered a truce between quarreling peoples.
The track was a good five miles around, with some ramps and a loop or two, but what caught my eye was the final ramp. If you had enough speed, or were just plain lucky, than you could fly to the finish line about 15 seconds before anyone else did. Only someone that was conservative enough to not waste (excuse me, "use for no apparent reason") their boost early on could make it, and even then it was hard.
I asked the girl up front to sign me up, and she said that it was starting in 30 minutes. In that time I fixed the windows, err, well, I shot them out then put in new ones. I guess I could have just taken them out manually… naw. I also put in the thrusters so that when I thought I needed to, could blast into the lead. I was all set, now it was race time.
I had 9 competitors that day. You had to win this race if you wanted to race in the Grand Prix. The tension was obviously growing in the arena right before the race, as the people took their marks. The ten of us lined up evenly when the lights went up.
3…
2…
1…
GOOOOO!